Stations of the Cross
For Passiontide 2020 we were preparing to put up Essy Sparrow’s Stations of the Cross in church. But it was not to be – lockdown intervened and instead Ayla made them into a video for YouTube. This year, having learnt how to manage lockdown, we will be making them available for prayer and reflection in church. There will be restrictions on numbers, if necessary, and the usual instructions about face masks and sanitising, and a one-way system will be in operation.
By way of introduction we repeat here extracts from Ayla’s interview with Essy which was printed in the April 2020 Parish Magazine and is still available in full on this website under Magazines.
Thorns, Tears, Truth: Essy Sparrow in conversation with Ayla Lepine
Ayla – The Stations of the Cross focus on how alone Jesus is, even when he’s surrounded by people. The first Station, with Jesus in the Garden at Gethsemane is the only one where Jesus covers his face.
Essy – It’s a mix of both prayer and fear …… Sometimes we see Jesus in the garden as a holy figure who doesn’t look particularly tormented……… For me, Gethsemane and taking up the cross, feel very tied together. They’re connected through the pain of being betrayed by someone you love. That’s a unique kind of grief.
Ayla – The Station covered in text is interesting too, because it’s so densely packed and tense.
Essy – I was flicking through the newspaper and thinking about the story in relation to the news. People were yelling, but nothing added up. Their arguments didn’t make sense. Pilate didn’t know what to do. That felt like so many of the stories that we read……. about a girl who got attacked because she was Chinese. People thought she had Coronavirus. Her friend stood up for her, and she got knocked to the ground. Those kinds of stories, where people are willing to stand up for each other are important situations to watch from a power dynamics point of view. In this story, the attackers’ friends just left her on the ground. They did nothing.
Ayla – Thinking about how you’ve looked at the crucifixion in your series. You made two different images. Why is that?
Essy – The first one is a self-portrait; that’s me in my orange jumper.
Ayla – Why did you choose to make the second one?
Essy – I also wanted to make something for someone to meditate on, if they wanted to have a different experience.
Ayla – When we move through the story of Good Friday, even if we’ve heard the story thousands of times, we inhabit it again, and it changes us in new ways. How did you feel after you finished making the Stations?
Essy – I had a big cry. …….. It was a really intense experience to have. The art is exactly how I felt.